Top quotes by E. Stanley Jones

To pass from estrangement from God to be a son of God is the basic fact of conversion. That altered relationship with God gives you an altered relationship with yourself, with your brother man, with nature, with the universe. Votes: 30

You cease to move into yourself, away from others. You give up your antagonism. You begin to move toward others in love. God moved toward you in gracious, outgoing love, and you move toward others in that same outgoing love. Votes: 20

The conscious mind determines the actions, the unconscious mind determines the reactions; and the reactions are just as important as the actions. Votes: 19

At the cross God wrapped his heart in flesh and blood and let it be nailed to the cross for our redemption. Votes: 17

God, to redeem us at the deepest portion of our nature - the urge to love and be loved - must reveal His nature in an incredible and impossible way. He must reveal it at a cross. Votes: 17

Prayer is commission. Out of the quietness with God, power is generated that turns the spiritual machinery of the world. When you pray, you begin to feel the sense of being sent, that the divine compulsion is upon you. Votes: 13

When the depths are upheld by the Holy Spirit, then the reaction is Christian. Votes: 12

In conversion you are not attached primarily to an order, nor to an institution, nor a movement, nor a set of beliefs, nor a code of action - you are attached primarily to a Person, and secondarily to these other things. Votes: 12

Some have said that the power of a Redeemer would depend upon two things: first, upon the richness of the self that was given; and second, upon the depths of the giving. Friend and foe alike are agreed on the question of the character of Jesus Christ. Votes: 12

The action carries a sense of incompleteness and frustration, but not of guilt. Victorious living does not mean perfect living in the sense of living without flaw, but it does mean adequate living, and that can be consistent with many mistakes. Votes: 11

A Rattlesnake, if Cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is -- a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves. Votes: 11

Here he tells us that the new birth is first of all 'not of blood'. You don't get it through the blood stream, through heredity. Your parents can give you much, but they cannot give you this. Votes: 10

Continuing a Lenten series on prayer: Prayer is co-operation with God. It is the purest exercise of the faculties God has given us - an exercise that links these faculties with the Maker to work out the intentions He had in mind in their creation. Votes: 10

Character is supreme in life, hence Jesus stood supreme in the supreme thing - so supreme that, when we think of the ideal, we do not add virtue to virtue, but think of Jesus Christ, so that the standard of human life is no longer a code but a character. Votes: 9

If the Holy Spirit can take over the subconscious with our consent and cooperation, then we have almighty Power working at the basis of our lives, then we can do anything we ought to do, go anywhere we ought to go, and be anything we ought to be. Votes: 8

Prayer is aligning ourselves with the purposes of God. Votes: 7

Being born in a Christian home does not make you a Christian. Votes: 7

Life is supplied with a basic adequacy. Votes: 6

Our intentions may be very good, but, because the intelligence is limited, the action may turn out to be a mistake - a mistake, but not necessarily a sin, for sin comes out of a wrong intention. Votes: 5

We are personalities in the making, limited, and grappling with things too high for us. Obviously we, at very best, will make many mistakes, but these mistakes need not be sins. Votes: 5

We grow small trying to be great. Votes: 5

There are two ways to be rich - one in the abundance of your possessions and the other in the fewness of your wants. Votes: 5

In the ordinary church, it is suppressed by respectability, by a desire to appear better than we really are. Votes: 5

All coming to Jesus has the feeling of homecoming upon it. All going away from Him has the sense of estrangement upon it. The rich young ruler went away from Jesus "sorrowful." Everybody does. Not only estrangement from God, but also estrangement from oneself. And the universe! And from life! You are not at home with life, unless you are at home with Life. And Jesus is Life! Votes: 4

If you don't surrender to God, don't think you don't surrender. Everybody surrenders -- to something. Votes: 4

Our actions are the results of our intentions and our intelligence. Votes: 3

Prayer is commitment. We don't merely co-operate with God with certain things held back within. We, the total person, co-operate. This means that co-operation equals committment. Votes: 3

The one supreme business of life is to find God's plan for your life and live it Votes: 3

Prayer is surrender--surr ender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God. Votes: 2

When prayer fades out, power fades out. We are as spiritual as we are prayerful; no more, no less. Votes: 2

The opponent strikes you on your cheek, and you strike him on the heart by your amazing spiritual audacity in turning the other cheek. You wrest the offensive from him by refusing to take his weapons, by keeping your own, and by striking him in his conscience from a higher level. He hits you physically, and you hit him spiritually. Votes: 0

Many live in dread of what is coming. Why should we? The unknown puts adventure into life. ... The unexpected around the corner gives a sense of anticipation and surprise. Thank God for the unknown future. Votes: 0

When we think of the ideal, we do not add virtue to virtue, but think of Jesus Christ, so that the standard of human life is no longer a code, but a character. Votes: 0

Victorious living does not mean freedom from temptation, nor does it mean freedom from mistakes. Votes: 0

Prayer means that the total you is praying. Your whole being reaches out to God, and God reaches down to you. Votes: 0

The early Christians did not say, in dismay, 'Look what the world has come to,' but, in delight, 'Look what has come to the world!” Votes: 0

Your capacity to say "No" determines your capacity to say "Yes" to greater things. Votes: 0

When man listens, God speaks; when man obeys, God acts; when man prays, God empowers. Votes: 0

The love of God invades me, the peace of God pervades me, the will of God persuades me, and I am wholly His. Votes: 0

If you don't surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos. Votes: 0

An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost, the other a corpse. Votes: 0

Jesus will meet me today in the person of someone in need-I must not miss him. Votes: 0

If you don't make up your mind, your unmade mind will unmake you. Votes: 0

The purpose of religion is not so much to get us into heaven, or to keep us out of hell, but to put a little bit of heaven into us, and take the hell out of us. This has always been the greatest responsibility of religion. Votes: 0

When we say we begin with God, we begin with our idea of God, and our idea of God is not God. Instead, we ought to begin with God’s idea of God, and God’s idea of God is Christ Votes: 0

The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same - that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West. Votes: 0

The God I find in Christ is a God who overcomes evil with good, hate by love, and the world by a cross. Votes: 0

The BIBLE redirects my will, cleanses my emotions, enlightens my mind, and quickens my total being Votes: 0

A nail-pierced hand holds the sceptre of the universe, and my knees bend before him. Votes: 0

Don't wait for some miracle to be performed on you from without, lifting you above your fears and doubts and self-centeredness. You help God from within by turning in outgoing love to others, and miraculously your fears and doubts and self-centeredness will vanish. The miracle starts within, not from without. Votes: 0

The moral laws of the Universe are deeply embedded in the constitution of things. We do not break them - we break ourselves upon them. Votes: 0

You don't grow old. You get old by not growing. Votes: 0

When the Church listens to the Holy Spirit, it becomes fruitful. New movements are born. Votes: 0

Suppose you should fail. Is that so terrible? Not to have tried is a worse failure. Votes: 0

Grace is free, but when once you take it, you are bound forever to the Giver and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Votes: 0

A reduced Christ is the same as a rejected Christ. Votes: 0

I have surrendered to God; therefore I surrender to nothing else. Votes: 0

When you pray, you begin to feel the sense of being sent. Votes: 0

Worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. Votes: 0

Christ is everywhere and He is in me. What more do I want, except more of Him? Votes: 0

Recognize negativism and inferiority attitudes as enemies - do not try to dress them as your friends. you will be tempted to look upon negativism as prudence and inferiorities as humility. Strip off those false cloaks and see these attitudes in their nakedness - as enemies of you and of your possibilities. Votes: 0

Abundant living means abundant giving. Votes: 0

Christianity not only saves you from sin, but from cynicism. Votes: 0

In our Ashrams of East and West, places of spiritual retreat, we begin with what we call "The Morning of the Open Heart," in which we tell our needs. . . . We give four or five hours to this catharsis. The reaction of one member, who listened to it for the first time, was: "Good gracious, have we all the disrupted people in the country here?" My reply was: "No, you have a cross section of the church life honestly revealed." In the ordinary church, it is suppressed by respectability, by a desire to a appear better than we really are. Votes: 0

To talk with God, no breath is lost. Talk on! To walk with God, no strength is lost. Walk on! To wait on God, no time is lost. Wait on! Votes: 0

Whatever we focus on determines what we become. Votes: 0

The only thing you believe in is the thing you believe in enough to practice. Your creed is your deed. Votes: 0

Earth's blackest day and earth's brightest day are only three days apart. Votes: 0

While love takes on itself impossible tasks, yet it finds that love lightens all loads. It is the same burden that wings are to a bird, that sails are to a ship. Nothing is hard if done for love's sweet sake. The yoke of love is easy; the yoke of duty is hard. There is all the difference in the world between being drawn by love and being driven by duty. The task may be the same, but love makes everything light, and duty makes everything drudgery. Votes: 0

Be so preoccupied with good will that you haven't room for ill will. Votes: 0

Where sin has abounded in me, Grace now much more abounds in me. I live by that 'much more.' Votes: 0

God doesn't have any grandchildren. Votes: 0

An hour spent in the presence of God brings the purest joy known to man. Votes: 0

If we know how to pray, we know how to live. Votes: 0

Nothing is ever really yours until you share it. Votes: 0

If you find something that gets hold of you in the Word, pass it on to somebody that very day. Votes: 0

When I met Christ, I felt that I had swallowed sunshine. Votes: 0

In the prayer time, the battle of the spiritual life is lost or won. Votes: 0

Whatever our creed, we stand with admiration before the sublime character of Jesus. Votes: 0

When we talk about what we believe we divide. When we talk about who we believe in we unite. Votes: 0

When the Christian doesn't find joy on account of his happenings, he can always find joy in spite of them. Votes: 0

Grace makes you gracious. The Giver makes you give. Votes: 0

Your powers are dead or dedicated. If they are dedicated, they are alive with God and tingle with surprising power. If they are saved up, taken care of for their own ends, they are dead. Votes: 0

Everything that happens to me can help me along in my Christian life. Votes: 0

Be victorious in the home, and you are victorious everywhere. Votes: 0

To live by worry is to live against reality Votes: 0

No person is free until he or she is free at the center. When we let go there, we are free indeed. When the self is renounced, then one stands utterly disillusioned, apart, asking for nothing. If anything comes to us, it is all sheer gain. Then life becomes one constant surprise. Votes: 0

We find, sooner or later, that in prayer we either abandon ourselves or we abandon prayer. Votes: 0

The universe does not make sense without God. Votes: 0

Faith is not merely you holding on to God- it is God holding on to you Votes: 0

I see that I am inwardly fashioned for faith and not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear and doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry my being is gasping for breath - these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence I breath freely - these are my native air. Votes: 0

When Satan attacks you, command him in the Name of Jesus to bend his neck. On the back of it you'll find there's a nail scarred foot print! Votes: 0

A Johns Hopkins doctor says that 'we do not know why it is that the worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.' But I, who am simple of mind, think I know we are inwardly constructed, in nerve and tissue and brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. Therefore, the need of faith is not something imposed on us dogmatically, but it is written in us intrinsically. We cannot live without it. To live by worry is to live against Reality. Votes: 0

I have only to be true to the highest I know-success of failure is in the hand of God. Votes: 0

Grace binds you with far stronger cords than the cords of duty or obligation can bind you. Grace is free, but when once you take it, you are bound forever to the Giver and bound to catch the spirit of the Giver. Like produces like. Grace makes you gracious, the Giver makes you give. Votes: 0

To implant fear in the minds of children is a crime. If parents try to rule the child by fear, then fear rules the child. Votes: 0

In the pure, strong hours of the morning, when the soul of the day is at its best, lean upon the window sill of God and look into his face, and get the orders for the day. Then go out into the day with the sense of a hand upon your shoulder and not a chip. Votes: 0

We must continue to pursue the thought that we do not merely belong to the Kingdom - the Kingdom belongs to us. Votes: 0

Spiritual power comes out of inward fellowship with God and abandonment to his purposes. Votes: 0

A road that perhaps more than any other leads to self atrophy is undedicated money. Votes: 0

Everybody who belongs to Christ belongs to everybody who belongs to Christ Votes: 0

Very often when I haven't faith in my faith, I have to have faith in His faith. He makes me believe in myself and my possibilities, when I simply can't. I have to rise to His faith in me. Votes: 0

When we can sing in the face of death, we can sing in the face of anything. Votes: 0

I never said the way of Christ is easy. Are you prepared to let go of everything He would not approve? Votes: 0

Surrender the thing you fear into the hands of God. Turn it right over to God and ask Him to solve it with you. Fear is keeping things in your own hands; faith is turning them over into the hands of God. Votes: 0

We must be willing to be guided of God, not merely now and then, but as a life proposition. Votes: 0